Trail Blazers 119, Cavaliers 116
Damian Lillard scored a season-high 36 points and drained his career-best eighth 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining to lead visiting Portland past Cleveland.
The Cavaliers rolled off eight consecutive points and tied the game on Anderson Varejao’s basket with 7.1 seconds left. Lillard then capped off a stellar effort that included 10 assists with his 3-pointer from the top of the key for his fourth game-winning shot of the season.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 26 points and 15 rebounds for his 15th double-double and Wesley Matthews scored 19 points as Portland improved its league-best record to 22-4. Kyrie Irving had 25 points and 10 assists and Dion Waiters scored 25 points off the bench for Cleveland.
The Cavaliers had a five-point lead early in the final quarter but Portland responded with a 8-0 burst midway through the period to take a 109-101 lead. The Trail Blazers led by 10 with 2:15 to go shortly before Irving scored nine straight Cleveland points to pull the Cavaliers within 116-114 with 33.8 seconds left.
Andrew Bynum scored all 13 of his points in the first half as Cleveland led 59-55 at the break. The Cavaliers led by eight early in the third before Lillard made three straight 3-pointers to put Portland ahead, and the Trail Blazers took a 92-88 lead into the final stanza.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Lillard was 8-of-12 from 3-point range and also matched his career high of eight rebounds while coming up shy of his first career triple-double. … Cleveland committed just six turnovers while forcing 14 but the Cavaliers were outrebounded 56-44. … Aldridge has scored 20 or more points in 21 of Portland’s 26 games.